1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to small hand shovels and more particularly to a shovel with dual blades and a mechanism for drawing the blades together in a clamping action for preparing a hole in an earthen surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many forms of shovel are known in the art. These include single bladed shovels for moving coal, earth and snow. A coal shovel is formed as a scoop so as to retain the coal pieces while moving a shovel full. Earth moving shovels may take several forms including the well known rounded front edge shovel for digging holes and the flat front edged shovel for picking-up loose material from a hard surface, also known as a spade. Snow shovels are generally made with a flat front edge and a broad width which seems to work well with this material. Dual opposing blade shovels are known as post diggers and generally incorporate a means for drawing the blades together to hold earth between the blades. A common variety of this type of shovel is merely a pair of shovels mounted together with a hinged arrangement.
The prior art teaches the use of post digger shovels but does not teach a small such article having manual linkages for digging a hole with a single motion of the squeezing action of one hand. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.
The present invention teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.
A shovel apparatus for digging holes has an H-shaped frame providing at one end, a handle integrally joined to the frame, and at the other end, a blade mounting support. A pair of spaced apart shovel blades are pivotally engaged with the blade mounting support for drawing the blades from essentially parallel rest positions, toward each other, to form a modified cone-shaped enclosure. A draw arm assembly is engaged for sliding within a pair of opposing slots in the H-shaped frame. The draw arm assembly is engaged with the shovel blades through a pair of links to move the shovel blades toward each other when the draw arm assembly is pulled toward the handle. In use the apparatus is held in one hand and by squeezing the draw arm assembly toward the handle the shovel blades are drawn into convergence thereby holding a load of earth or soil.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method of use of such apparatus that provides advantages not taught by the prior art.
Another objective is to provide such an invention capable of scooping a portion of soil out of a hole.
A further objective is to provide such an invention capable of simple manual manipulation of a pair of opposing shovel blades.
A still further objective is to provide such an invention capable of automatically returning the blades to a spread apart attitude by relieving pressure on an actuating bar of the invention. Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.